Should We Expect Attempts to Bar Blacks From Voting? Historic 2008 Election Could See Unprecedented Attempts to Bar African American Voters! As we continue on the subject of voter suppression and race, we turn to Queens College political science professor and bestselling author Andrew Hacker. In the latest issue of the New York Review of Books, Hacker writes, Obstacles to getting blacks to vote have always been formidable, but this year there will be barriers some new, and some long-standing that previous campaigns have not had to face.